This is meant to be about aviation and aviation politics not whether folk like regimes or not. The Gulf is a very different thing to the North African states, who in turn differ from the Levant countries (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq) and of course Iran isn't Arab,- it's Persian.
The basic fact of this argument are that Canada is protective of its legacy carrier , Air Canada, whose service levels are way below the Gulf, Asian and many other carriers and the country , other than for overflying , is an insignificant player in the current international airline world. Apart from anything else, the Gulf just happens to be in the right place to connect from almost anywhere in the world one stop to anywhere else,- and it energetically provides this service 24/7. Just look at the Dubai departures board at any time of day or night,- and then look at the same at any Canadian airport. The story is there.